but other establishment favorites like tim pawlenty and jon huntsman are barely hanging on. and newt gingrich's campaign is on life support. so is this it? or is michele bachmann emerging as the tea party's battering ram against the willard mitt romney? joining me now is richard wolfe and with me, editor at large for salon.com, joan walsh. let me ask you first. is the bachmann threat a real threat, richard? >> well, she is a threat herself to mitt romney. but i actually think the space that she represents is more of a threat. look, she needs to call donald trump to figure out how this movie ends. can you rise very quickly on this kind of platform and then you sink very quickly. but what she is showing and what trump showed before her is that there is space for a populist insurgeant type of tea party candidate who can capture the spirit driving the base here. i personally don't think it will be her. i think it is going to be someone like rick perry or sarah palin but she is peaking too early. the one thing you don't do is too early in the summer before. >> are they waiting jo